Dreams
by FireWolf593
Summary: The shadow creatures had found a portal to the Afterlife and want revenge. Atem stops them, but gets pulled into the shadow realm. In the shadow realm, he sends dream messages to Yugi. When they get through, will Yugi be able to find a way to help Atem?
1. Prologue

Hello everyone,

This is my first FanFiction and the first story I ever wrote, so tell me if you like it!

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><p>Dreams<p>

Prologue

Atem ran through the battlefield, cloak flowing behind him, paying no attention to the battle raging around him. He had to stop this; it had gone on for too long.

In the few years Atem had stayed in the afterlife, chaos had descended swiftly. The shadow creatures had found a DoorWay leading to the afterlife, and saw it as an opportunity for revenge. Since that day, they were battling almost nonstop and Atem was exhausted.

_I have to do this, _Atem thought_; the fate of the afterlife depends on it!_

He weaved swiftly around the shadow creature army and suddenly, he stopped. There she was the Queen of Darkness and leader of this invasion, Elivira. She was humanoid, with pure white skin and blazing red hair made of flames. Bloodred eyes that flamed when she got irritated made her skin look even paler, a set of pitch black devils' horns adorned her head, while a matching devils' tail swished behind her. Elivira was wearing a sleeveless, and loose black dress that hung just above her knees, while simple black runners adorned her feet. Perfect for fighting.

Elivira watched as Atem approached and smiled sweetly, "Have you come to tell me you are surrendering?" Atem narrowed his eyes, "No, in fact, it is time to end this madness!"

"Oh, really?" Elivira said amused. Giving Atem no time to respond, she drew a gleaming black dagger and smiled as darkness caressed the blade. "Let's duel!" Elivira announced.

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><p>Mana looked on as battle continued. She spotted master Mahad blasting at monsters with Illusion Magician by his side. Seto was using his Duos to slash through shadow creatures, while the rest of the priests, Isis, Shada and Karim, fought with their spirit monsters in different places in the battlefield. Aknamkanon could be seen fighting alongside his brother Aknadin and even Shimon was in battle.<p>

Mana was seriously annoyed that she wasn't allowed to fight, and with the guards around, there was no possibility of escape. So she was sitting here on the balcony where she and Atem had sat on so many times, as the battle raged below.

Her eyes followed her best friend as he ran through the monsters, expertly weaving in between them. Mana wondered if she should join him. When she found Atem again, tears formed in her eyes. She _had_ to help him, she _had_ to. Without even looking back, she slipped off the balcony to the ground below.

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><p>Elivira did not leave much time for Atem to respond, for she attacked almost immediately. Even so, Atem had managed to unsheathe his DiaDhank and summon the Winged Dragon of Ra. To his surprise, Elivira did not attack Ra, but attacked him instead. With no weapons to defend himself with, all he could do was dodge her attacks.<p>

"What's wrong, honey?" Elivira said real sweet with a just as sweet smile, "You can't land a blow?" Atem gritted his teeth and said nothing. Ra tried to protect Atem and attack Elivira, but she was too fast and slipped under Ra's tail and slashed Atem's shoulder when he turned to dodge. He immediately collapsed in pain. Ra shimmered and vanished, Atem was too weak to keep it out of its tablet. Elivira smiled and took her time advancing.

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><p>Tears ran down Mana's face as she watched her best friend collapse. She ran ever faster, but she was too far away. Mana knew that she wouldn't make it. Time seemed to slow, as Elivira advanced, smiling triumphantly.<p>

All of a sudden, the portal flew open and she saw Atem use the remaining strength he had to push Elivira halfway in. Elivira shrieked and grabbed at Atem.

A cry escaped her mouth as she watched Elivira grasp Atem's belt and dragged him with her. By the time she got there, it was too late.

The portal had closed.

* * *

><p>It was a pain he had never felt before. It felt like his shoulder was on fire and was quickly spreading to his whole body. Atem dimly heard Elivira's voice. What had she said?<p>

"One wound by this blade shall send you to the shadow realm!"

_Well, I'll take you with me!_ Atem thought as his half closed eyes caught sight of the portal. Using his shadow magic, he opened the portal and gathered his remaining strength to push Elivira partway in.

Elivira shrieked, "NOOOOO! If I go you do too!" her hands clutching at Atem. Just as she fell into the portal, the hand managed to snag Atem's golden belt and dragged his unresisting body in.

Once inside the portal, he used the rest of his shadow magic to close the portal. The last thing his pain fevered mind registered was Mana's voice calling his name.

* * *

><p>"Atem! Atem! Please come back!" Mana shouted that over and over as she fell to her knees, tears streaming down her cheeks. Knowing that shouting won't bring him back, didn't stop her cries and she barely noticed that the fighting had died down.<p>

Without Elivira's influence, the monsters were weakened, so that they would be easy to defeat. With the battle over, everyone caught sight of Mana crying in front of the locked portal.

"Mana, what's wrong?" It was Master Mahad. Mana could barely speak through the lump in her throat, but she managed, "Atem...gone,"

The silence that stretched after those few words were deafening after the sounds of battle. Finally, Aknamkanon said, "Let's go into the palace, so you can tell us the full story." With that, he turned toward the palace and walked slowly toward it. Everyone else following soon after. Mana reluctantly followed, after taking one last look at the spot where her best friend, Atem, had given himself up to save them, once again.

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><p>So, how is it?<p>

FireWolf593


	2. Chapter 1

Hey everyone!

Well, the first chapter of Dreams is finally here!

Thank You all for being patient!

This is my first attempt at Joey's accent, so are you satisfied with it?

Tell me how I'm doing!

Do you like the story?

Does anything need to be improved?

Please Read and Review!

**NOTE: I changed Yugi's Dream in the story, because I did not like it whatsoever (I didn't even know why I wrote it like that) I didn't really think it matched the storyline, so tell me how you like this one!**

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><p>Dreams<p>

Chapter 1

_It's that dream again!_ I thought to myself as I sat up in bed. _Atem's in the Afterlife, he is perfectly happy and that dream is not true!_

I tried to convince myself that the dream meant nothing, but I have this weird feeling that I have to help him.

"Just a dream," I muttered to myself.

"Yugi! Time to get up! You're going to be late for school!"

"Coming Grandpa!" I called down the stairs. Yet, I still sat there on the edge of my pondering what the dream meant. Suddenly, my eyes caught sight of my alarm clock and I leapt out of bed in fright.

"Ah! I'm going to be late!" I ran around my room frantically before hurriedly throwing on my school uniform and dashing down the stairs.

Grandpa chuckled when he saw me, "I told you to get up, Yugi,"

"Sorry," I apologized. "I was thinking about something,"

"Oh?" Grandpa looked at me. "What is it?"

"I-It's nothing Grandpa," I hurriedly said, but I could tell he wasn't convinced.

"I see," he said and turned back to tidy the boxes of games.

"Hey, YUGI!" a call from the door got my attention. It was my friends waiting for me, so we could walk to school together. It was Joey that called me, "Hurry up, Yug!" Joey called again.

"I'm coming!" I called and wolfed down my breakfast faster than they can blink.

"I hope that doesn't give you indigestion," Grandpa said chuckling from the storage room doorway.

"Don't worry, Grandpa," I called back as I ran to greet my friends.

"Hey, Yugi, howvya been?" Joey asked me as I ran outside.

"Fine, Joey, how about you?"

"I'm good, hey, Tristan! Betcha I can eat fastah then ya!"

"No chance, Joey!" Joey and Tristan began an argument to see who could eat the fastest and most food, with Tea telling them off. With nothing much on my mind, I once again began thinking about the dream I had for the last month or so. I blinked when I noticed everything had gone silent.

"Somethin' on ya mind, Yug?" Joey inquired.

"Yeah, you seem distracted, Yugi," Tea agreed.

"It's nothing, you guys," I protested.

"We know it's not nothing," Tristan said.

"Ya can tell us ya know," Joey added. I smiled as I shook my head, "You guys know me too well!" My friends laughed and as I looked ahead, I could see Domino High in front of us.

"Well," I started.

BRIIIIIIIIINNNNNNGGGGGGGGGG! The school bell sounded. It was time for class.

"Interrupted by da bell!" Joey complained. We all laughed.

"It's alright, guys," I told them. "I'll tell you after school. We'll go to my place alright?"

"Alright," They all agreed.

* * *

><p>"Man! School's way too long!" Tristan complains after school.<p>

"Ya got dat right, Tristan," Joey agrees.

"I need some female friends!" Tea says rolling her eyes. Throughout their conversation, I didn't say a thing, for my mind was wandering back to the dream.

"Yugi! Hey, Yugi! Ya in dere?" Joey waved his hand in front of my face. I blinked.

"Joey!" Tea scolded. "Can't you tell he's thinking?"

"Whoops, sorry Yug," Joey apologised.

"It's alright, Joey," I replied. I blinked again and noticed that we were standing in front of the game shop. "Well," I continued. "Come on in,"

Right after they entered, Joey and Tristan started hogging the refrigerator, while Tea busied herself with scolding them, "Hey! Are you going to listen to Yugi, or stuff your faces the whole time?" At those words, both of them froze their arms full of food. I was sitting on the couch watching them when I couldn't help it and burst out laughing. Tea who was trying to hold back her giggles joined in too.

"Hey!" Tristan protested. "What's so funny?" We just laughed harder.

"Never mind, Tristan," Joey said, shoving his armload of food back in to the refrigerator. By then, I was already wiping tears from my eyes and every time I thought about it, I would burst out laughing and so would Tea. It took quite a long time for us to settle down, but we eventually did.

After we all got settled on the couch, I told them what was bothering me, "It's these dreams I'm having," I explained. Joey shrugged, "What's so special about that?"

"Well, there's this shadow that wants to talk to me and I want to talk to it too, but sound can't seem to get through the barrier." I continued.

My friends all looked at me. Then, Joey solemnly said, "Tell us da whole dream, dontcha leave anythin' out,"

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><p>All Yugi saw was a purple mist. It obscured everything in sight. He didn't even bother to look behind him. He knew he would see the purple mist. Even though the purple mist obscured everything, he knew exactly where he was. He was in the shadow realm. Yugi knew that he wasn't sent here by someone, like Yami Marik for example, so he had no idea why he was here. He suddenly got this feeling to look behind him and when he did, he saw himself asleep on his bed.<p>

Realization hit and Yugi knew that he was dreaming. But what puzzled him is why he is dreaming about the shadow realm. He peered into the mist feeling as if he was missing something, but he still was not prepared for the appearance of the shadow. It was a human figure and its head was pointed and that confused him before he realized it was the figure's hair. He wasn't sure, but it looked like Atem. The figure was motioning to Yugi with urgency, but he couldn't understand what it was trying to tell him. The figure also seemed to be talking too, but sound didn't seem to penetrate the shadows.

Suddenly, understanding dawned on him. He was to choose to leave this dream or speak to the shadow. Yugi thought for a minute and decided to ditch this dream; after all, Atem was in the Afterlife so why should he worry about him? Yugi turned to enter the image of himself sleeping and just before he left the dream, he looked behind him and saw the figure slump in disappointment/ that almost made Yugi go back, but for all he knew, Atem was in the afterlife, so why should he bother?

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><p>"When I began to get that dream more frequently, I tried to talk to the figure, but sound doesn't seem to penetrate the shadows in between us. I don't know how to speak through the mist!" I finished almost yelling in exasperation.<p>

A deafening silence stretched after my explanation. No one knew what to say to me.

"You have tah get rid of da shadows, Yugi," Joey said breaking the silence.

"I know Joey, but I don't know how."

"Yug, you're da best problem solver out of all of us," Joey replied.

"That's right!" Tea piped up. "Remember how you solved the Millennium Puzzle?" Then, realization dawned on me, "I got it!"

"What is it, Yugi?" Tristan asked.

"It's like a game!" I declare. "To counter the shadows, I need light!"

"How will dat work?" Joey inquires.

"Remember how the Millennium Puzzle used to glow with a bright light?" My friends nodded.

"Well, I could use the Puzzle to banish the darkness!" I finished to blank faces.

"Nyeh, I still don' get it," Joey says. "You don' have the Puzzle anymore, Yug."

"But, maybe I could make it appear by visualizing it," I answered. "After all, it is a dream."

"I get it," Tea says nodding. "The dream is kind of like an alternate universe, so technically you can do anything,"

"That's right," I confirm.

"I knew that," Tristan says shooting a smug look at Joey.

"Oh yeah?" Joey gets mad at Tristan and they start another one of their arguments. Tea groans and starts yelling at them. I smile, same ol' friends.

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><p><p>

Yugi opens his eyes and sees the shadow realm around him. He looks behind him and he sees himself sleeping on his bed. Yugi nods and mutters, "Well, here goes." He closes his eyes and visualizes the Millennium Puzzle hanging around his neck on its chain and the familiar weight of it. Yugi sees a red haze behind his eyelids and feels a familiar weight around his neck. He opens his eyes and is surprised to see the Millennium Puzzle around his neck.

The Puzzle was glowing with a light that was quickly growing brighter. The Shadows seemed to melt with the light. When the light died down, the Millennium Puzzle disappeared with it, but Yugi barely noticed it. There, standing weakly, obviously tired, and probably with much more that he couldn't see, was...

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><p>I'm still not fully satisfied with it, but eh, I had to get going.<p>

It's pretty obvious who the person is, but you still don't know what happens next, so that pretty much makes up for it.

FW593


	3. Chapter 2

Hey everyone,

The update is FINALLY here.

Sorry for the REALLY long delay (At least to me it was long)

This chapter is SUPER long, but I do like it.

School's starting soon, so I won't be updating as much, sorry.

I changed Yugi's dream in Chapter 1, so read it to get up to date!

Anyway, R & R!

* * *

><p>Dreams<p>

Chapter 2

"He's not waking up," A scratchy voice penetrated the haze of pain.

"Then wake him up like this!" Another scratchy voice said. A sudden impact on his rib cage sent him flying and he crashed into what might be a wall. He dimly registered he was kicked before slowly opening his eyes.

What he was almost frightened him to death. He was staring at two grimy, ugly faces. As he watched, one smiled and straightened up.

"Well, what did I tell you? It worked didn't it?" The other rolled its eyes and said, "I think he was already awake, Villence," The thing named Villence frowned.

"We shouldn't stand around arguing, Demoli, Her Majesty would be very angry with us," Atem's head still pounded from the impact, but he now registered that the faces belonged to shadow ghouls. They where long limbed, grimy, humanoid monsters that walked on all 4 limbs, with the faces of men. They loved to haunt abandoned places and eat any people that came into their "territory". Atem wondered what Elivira ordered them to do to him.

"Right," Demoli replied, throwing a bundle of cloth at Atem. "Put those on!" Atem blinked and found the bundle to be clothes. Modern clothes.

"Well?" Villence said as if waiting. "Are you going to change or not?" Atem couldn't help but burst into laughter. Both ghouls blinked.

"Did we miss something?" Demoli asked Villence. Villence just shrugged.

"You do know that I can't change with you watching right?" Atem managed through his laughter. Both ghouls' faces immediately turned a bright red, which only made Atem laugh harder.

"Let's leave," Villence said, grabbing Demoli's arm and making a quick exit.

After Atem got over his giggles, he looked at the clothes in his hands. There was a plain black T-shirt and a pair of black shorts. There was a pair of running shoes too. Black also. The bundle was wrapped in a long black cloak with this note attached:

**Sweetie,**

** I do not want you looking like a pharaoh in MY palace, so I decided to let you change into these clothes. You may not keep any of your jewellery except for your DiaDhank.**

**Have a nice time in your prison!**

** Elivira**

Atem sighed and quickly changed out of his Egyptian finery. The pain in his shoulder made it slightly challenging, but he made good time. When he was done, he patiently waited for Villence and Demoli to come back to retrieve his other pair of clothes.

He did not have to wait long. They came and left without a word, and he knew Elivira would assign him to a sort of torture, and he knew only someone else can get him out. Yugi immediately popped into mind. _No_, he shook his head; _I won't put Yugi in danger again_. The more he thought about it though; he realized Yugi was the only one he could contact. The Afterlife was completely blocked off from the Shadow Realm.

Atem then thought of how to contact Yugi. The mind link had long ago been obliterated. His thoughts turned back to the spells Mahad used for communication, and a solution came to mind. It involved sending Yugi a dream, and although he knew the shadows would put up a test, Atem knew he had to try it. It was his ticket out of this prison and he was going to take it. No matter how hard the road is.

Atem kneeled down in front of a wall, and started chanting.

القدس الأم ، إلهة الالهي ، أقف أمام الضريح المقدس الخاص بك.  
>هذا الشخص سوف تصغي اليه وتسمعه.<br>كلماتي دغدغة في آذانهم.  
>الأم المقدسة، إلهة الالهي ، وإرسال الحلم ، توقظ العقل ،<br>من خلال رؤيتهم يعيشون فيها ، ونسمع ما يعطي ذلك بحرية.  
>الأم المقدسة، إلهة الالهي ، وإرسالها التصميم الخاص مسحور.<br>واضح خارج خيوط العنكبوت، هدم الجدران.  
>حمل رسالتي من خلال المكالمات الروح. "<p>

He opened his hands and a purple mist flowed out, covering the wall in front of him. Atem continued chanting until the mist was thick enough that he couldn't see the wall anymore. He then straightened and whispered a word barely audible.

"Yugi,"

An image of Yugi appeared and Atem smiled sadly. Yugi seemed to be happy. He was laughing with Tea and Tristan as Joey failed to pass level 1 at a game at the arcade. A window was behind them, and Atem could see the day was almost over. The sun was already low in the sky.

Atem watched and waited as Joey gave the game one last attempt before quitting and looking out the window. Everyone seemed to be surprised that it was already this late, and made a speedy exit from the arcade. The gang parted ways in front of the game shop and Atem watched in anticipation as Yugi flopped onto his bed and fell fast asleep.

"Send," Atem whispered and the image of Yugi sleeping faded into the background. Yugi then appeared in front of the image with his eyes closed. When they opened he seemed confused. Atem gave Yugi a few moments to get his bearings before he took a step forward and was surprised to see Yugi jump.

"Yugi," He said even though he knew Yugi couldn't hear him. "Use light to banish the shadows!" Accompanying his words, he drew a triangle in the air and waved his arms to show light. Yugi did not seem to get it however, and his movements became more urgent, for he knew he was running out of time.

Yugi looked more uncertain and turned to exit the dream.

"NO!" Atem shouted after Yugi even though he knew full well that Yugi can't hear him. When Yugi stepped into the image, he gave up his attempts of capturing Yugi's attention and slumped down in defeat and tiredness. The spell dissolved and Atem was left with a sense of failure. But in his heart, he knew that he would never give up.

He fell asleep on that stone floor with a feeling of determination.

-Morning-

Atem was awoken by the ghouls barging into the room yelling for him to get up. He yawned, "What for?"

"Her majesty, Queen Elivira wants to see you." Villence said matter of factly. A feeling of dread overcame him, but Atem shook it off, feeling annoyed with himself for even feeling that way, so he just gets up and follows the ghouls.

As the ghouls led him through the palace, Atem's eyes drank in every single detail, in case he needed to navigate the palace. Unlike his own palace, it was very dreary and dark. The walls were a brown stone and there weren't any windows. The ceiling was at least half a kilometre high and the halls just as wide. Atem reasoned that it was this big so, the bigger shadow creatures could walk around without feeling cramped.

"In you go!" Demoli's voice cut through Atem's thoughts as they shoved him in a gigantic doorway and slammed the door shut. He looked up and there across the room was Elivira. She sat on a throne made completely of shadows and a crown of darkness sat on her head. Elivira smiled super sweetly and said, "Come closer, sweetie," Atem had no choice but to obey.

"I haven't actually decided what to do to you yet," Elivira continued when she was satisfied with how close Atem is. At those words, Atem relaxed, but her next words horrified him.

"But in the meantime, you will work at the palace as a slave."

"I'm not a slave," Atem protested, not liking this at all.

"Now you are," Elivira replied smiling. "And you shall now be treated as one," At those words, a monster, who Atem suspected was a guard, grabbed him roughly and left with him.

Atem was in quite an uncomfortable position. He was wedged under a creature's arm and his arm was pinned under the monster's breastplate. Every time the creature took a step, vibrations jostled his shoulder wound and made him wince.

Finally, the creature stopped and threw Atem into a room. He then talked to another monster in the room and left. Atem just lay there panting, until he received a hard kick to his ribs.

"Get up." Atem got up and stood in front of the massive monster, not feeling intimidated by the creature's size. The monster was a rusty red color, with little patches of armour stuck here and there. The creature's hands were gigantic and leathery, like gloves and he had huge dragons' wings on his back. Atem recognised it as a shadow-fire dragon. They were excellent blacksmiths that could forge a sword in less than a minute. In battle, they were dangerous with their fire abilities. Their fire could reduce a human to ashes in minutes.

"I'm Levamut, the blacksmith, and I'm going to put you to work." The creature introduced himself in a gruff voice, and pointed at the flames. "We'll start with heating up the metal. Since you don't have any experience, we should start easy." Atem looked at the flickering flames that seemed to change color. A powerful heat seemed to be radiating from it.

"That fire is enchanted, perfect for making magical weapons, so you better not set yourself on fire, or else you'll probably burn yourself to ashes!" Levamut said laughing. His expression turned serious again, "Chop chop! Get to work slave!"

Atem winced at the word slave, but grabbed a huge chunk of metal nevertheless. He stuck it in the fire and grabbed another one. It was increasingly tiring work, and he was soon soaked in sweat.

He tried his hardest to please Levamut, but every time, he thought he did it right, Levamut would see the littlest of mistakes. By the end of the day, his arms were red and raw and he was exhausted. Not to mention Elivira wasn't pleased with his efforts. He received his first flogging that day. Atem didn't like that they expected him to master anything thrown at him in a day. The sooner he was out of this place, the better.

That night, he wouldn't let himself fall asleep until, he had sent Yugi another dream. He received the same result as last time, but he was too exhausted to care right now. He wondered when he could get out of this place. This was torture enough. He didn't need another one.

Atem's days were hard and brutal; helping out anywhere Elivira put him. Every time someone was not pleased with his work -which was quite often- Elivira put him under the whip. Over time, the jobs became easier, but he still received floggings from time to time. Atem no longer thought much of it, for it was another part of his new routine, but they still hurt.

His nights were mostly spent sleeping, but before he allowed himself to fall asleep, he made sure to send a dream to Yugi. Sometimes they didn't get through, sometimes Yugi turned away, but soon, Atem noticed Yugi's curiosity get the better of him. Yugi had tried to talk to him, but when he realized Atem couldn't hear him, he seemed to think that if he persisted enough, he could get through. Atem wanted to tell him to think of it as a game, but Yugi wouldn't be able to hear him.

He knew Elivira's palace quite well by now and he could easily navigate it without help. He only hoped Yugi would be able to make his way through.

So, months passed that way and Atem began wondering if Yugi would ever figure out the puzzle, but still he persisted, for he was not one to give up, so of course he was delighted when Yugi finally broke through, but their conversation was short, for the guards had come that night. Elivira had long suspected Atem was contacting someone, and hade the ghouls waiting for when he succeeds in breaking through. Fortunately, the ghouls were late that night, so Atem got to exchange a few sentences with Yugi.

That night, when Yugi dissolved the shadows between them, he was obviously surprised at the state Atem was in.

"Atem, what happened to you?" Yugi asked. Atem gave him a small smile before replying, "I'm in the shadow realm, Yugi. The Queen of Darkness, Elivira's palace and the only one that can save me is you."

"Why me?" Yugi asked.

"You have an eternal light that can penetrate even the shadow realm. You must travel-" A sound behind him interrupted his words. The ghouls had seen him talking to Yugi and had advanced. They grabbed his arms and started dragging him out the vortex.

"Where are you taking me?" Atem demanded.

"The Queen had a punishment for you," Villence replied. Atem froze, a feeling of dread over came him, but when he recovered, he resumed his struggling.

"Atem!" he heard Yugi call.

"You've broken through, so the shadows won't reappear!" Atem called back. "When you want to see me, say my name before you fall asleep! I must warn you though; I won't be able to see you!" As he uttered the final words, the ghouls pulled him through and marched him toward Elivira's throne room and his eternal punishment.

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><p>Is it good?<p>

FW593


	4. Chapter 3

OMG I am SO SORRY!

Sorry, I haven't updated in a month!

I had to update SnakeBite, and then I had schoolwork to do.

Again, SORRY! (You can probably tell by this, that I don't like to keep you guys waiting.)

Anyway, I have a few questions to ask you.

Do you think I went a little too fast at the beginning? I think i could have made Yugi dream the first time instead of the second last.

Do any of you even read this? (I was just wondering)

Lastly, what is a disclaimer? I have read a few FanFics with disclaimers and I have no idea what they are.

So, yeah R & R and answer the above questions!

* * *

><p>Dreams<p>

Chapter 3

_NO, NO, NO! How could they? How could they take him? I had only just gotten through!_

I tried to run after Atem, but I slammed into what seemed like an invisible wall. I screamed in frustration and punched it. My hand began to throb, but I ignored it, I was much too angry. I continued to attack the invisible wall, not caring if I hurt myself. My mind was set on reaching Atem.

"YUGI!" A voice behind me snapped me back from the angered state my mind was in. I turned around to wake up, and nearly jumped five feet. The image of me was kicking and screaming while I also glimpsed Grandpa trying to wake me up.

"Sorry Grandpa!" I yelled as I charged into the image to wake up a second later. Grandpa was holding my shoulders and was shaking me, but froze when he saw I was awake. I blinked and for an awkward moment, no one moved. With a sigh, Grandpa let go of my shoulders and sat on the edge of my bed.

"Yugi," He said softly. "You were screaming, did you have a nightmare?" I just nodded, not wanting to tell him about the dream.

"Alright," Grandpa nodded. "I'll have breakfast ready soon."

When Grandpa left, I glanced at the clock as it read 6:30 and got out of bed to take a shower. As I stepped into it, I noticed my body was aching. _Probably from attacking the wall_, I thought. I just stood there letting the water wash away the traces of the dream. It was only until I looked down at myself did I notice the water around my feet was slightly red. Another glance and I knew why. My body was littered with small scrapes and bruises. The largest wound I had was probably when I punched the wall. The skin on my knuckles was scraped off leaving a bloody wrinkled mass. I sighed as I thought of the way my Grandpa would overreact when he sees this. My Grandpa had become more and more overprotective over the years I had spent saving the world. Now, the smallest of bruises could send him fawning over me. It was really getting annoying.

I quickly finished washing and I had put on my clothes before I exited the bathroom. When I reached my room, the sheets on the bed could be seen with pale crimson stains littering its surface. I sighed as I walked over to pull the soiled sheets out when a thump on the stairs was heard. _Oh no! My grandpa was coming up the stairs! I can't let him see this! _I hurried to change my bed sheets and finished just in time for the door to open. I stood there innocently glancing at the doorway as if wondering who was there.

"Breakfast is ready, Yugi," Grandpa announced. "Your friends just called. They said they will be coming over in about 10 minutes."

"Alright Grandpa," I said nodding. "I'll be right down." Satisfied with that answer, he turned and left.

I let out a breath when I was sure he couldn't hear me, "That was close," I muttered to myself as I exited my room and descended the stairs.

I didn't say much at breakfast, lost in thoughts about the dream. The ring of the doorbell snapped me back to reality. I sighed as Grandpa went to open the door for them. I didn't want to tell them the news.

My friends were obviously expecting positive news, for they burst into the house with Joey leading.

"Hey Yug!" Joey said grinning real big. "How'd it go last night?" I smiled back at them. My smile sad.

"You should sit down," I said as I sat down on the couch. My friends shrugged and plopped down after me.

"So Yugi, did it work?" Tristan asked me calmly. I sighed, "Well, it did, but..." I trailed off. I couldn't say it.

"But what?" Joey pressed, eager to know.

"Just let him speak, Joey," Tea said. I nodded my thanks to her as I tried again, "But, they took him." The silence stretched out long just like the last conversation.

"Took him where?" Joey asked suddenly.

"To-" I swallowed. "To be judged, I think. And being the person that locked the shadow creatures away, he will probably be condemned a punishment." There was that silence again as my friends processed everything I said.

"Well, there's one thing left to do," It was Tea that broke the silence this time. "Tell us everything, Yugi." Tears welled in my eyes, but I wiped them away. _I have to be strong. For Atem_. I took a deep breath and began to speak.

-Flashback (I know you guys already know what happened, but this will give you the dream in Yugi's POV)-

"Atem, what happened to you?" Yugi was shocked to see Atem like this. It surprised him more when he noticed Atem was no longer wearing his Egyptian Pharaoh clothes. Now, he was wearing a tattered black t shirt and shorts, while a black cloak lay in a heap at the edge of the room. Black running shoes adorned his feet and as far as Yugi saw, his DiaDhank was the only thing that marked him a royal.

Atem smiled sadly before he replied, "I'm in the shadow realm Yugi. The Queen of Darkness, Elivira's palace and the only one that can save me is you."

"Why me?" Yugi was taken aback that he was the only one that could save the pharaoh.

"You have eternal light, Yugi. Your light shall be able to even penetrate the shadow realm. You must travel—" A sound behind Atem interrupted him. Atem glanced back as a vortex appeared behind him and two shadow ghouls quickly jumped out and grabbed his arms.

"Where are you taking me?" Atem demanded as the ghouls started dragging him toward the vortex.

"The Queen has a punishment for you," One ghoul answered. As Yugi watched on, Atem froze, terror in his eyes. He quickly recovered however, as he resumed his struggling.

"Atem!" Yugi hated standing there helpless as the ghouls dragged his dear friend away. Atem looked back and shouted one more sentence before getting dragged into the vortex, "You've broken through, so the shadows won't reappear! When you wish to see me speak my name before falling asleep! I won't be able to see you though!" Yugi was left staring at an empty room with Atem's terror filled eyes fresh in his memory.

-End flashback-

The descriptions of the dream once again left my friends speechless. They all stared at me hoping, wishing that I was wrong and that Atem was perfectly fine.

"We have tuh get him back, guys!" Joey announced standing up. We all nodded. Our friend was in trouble, we couldn't just leave him there.

"Well, uh, how do we get into the shadow realm without actually getting sent there?" Tristan asked the question that had popped into our heads that instant. We stopped and our faces fell.

"Well, let's go ask Ishizu, she might have a solution to this." I suggested. My friends started nodding again. I giggled, it was so funny. "Anyway," I quickly said before any of them could ask 'what's so funny'. "We'll go after school, and we should get moving, school's going to start soon." My friends glanced at the clock simultaneously and jumped up in a hurry at exactly the same time, which made me burst into laughter again. They looked at me quizzically, but shrugged when they decided not to ask. Still giggling, I got up and led my friends to the door and started walking in the direction of Domino High. I felt especially happy-go-lucky today. I wonder why?

-After school-

"LET'S GO!" Joey and Tristan shouted at the same time as we exited the school building. Tea just rolled her eyes as she watched them dance around singing:

We're goin' to Ishizu's

to find a way to save our buddy,

the pharaoh he is called,

On our way to Ishizu's...

Tea finally groaned and muttered to herself, "Can they get any cheesier? Talk about bad rhymes." I just laughed, knowing how childish they can be. Tea finally flipped and started yelling at them to stop acting like children. They cowered under her tongue lashing and promised to stop. For the rest of the way, they never said a word, with made the journey quite awkward.

When we reached the Ishtar's place, we all stood there before entering and tracking down the three Ishtars. We sat on a comfortable couch and explained the situation to them.

"Do ya know how tuh enter the shadow realm?" Joey asked. Ishizu shook her head sadly, "I do not, do you Marik?"

"I do not know either, sister, what about you Odion? Do you know?"

"I am sorry Master Marik, but I do not."

"Great! How are we supposed to save the pharaoh now?" Tristan said exasperated.

"Perhaps, when you dream of the Pharaoh again, he may speak of some information we do not know of." Ishizu suggested. I nodded, not sure of it was true, but I had to try something, "Thank you Ishizu," Ishizu nodded in acknowledgment and watched as we left. It was getting dark outside and I was tired. My friends dropped me off at the Game Shop and wished me a good night.

In bed, I had almost fallen asleep when I remembered something.

"Atem," I whispered.

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><p>Thank you to everyone that reviewed my story!<p>

FW593


	5. Chapter 4

Hey Everyone!

I'm back with a pretty quick update!(in my standards at least)

Thank you to DreamixAngel for answering my questions in the previous chapter!

And just a little reminder,

_Italics_ are Atem's thoughts.

Ok, so now that I know what a disclaimer is, I'll just do it once for good measure.

So here goes.

I do not own Yugioh and I only own my own characters and the plot.

So, how was that? Did I do it right?

Ummm, yeah, so here's the story.

* * *

><p>Dreams<p>

Chapter 4

Atem looked defiantly up at the figure of Elivira in her majestic throne of shadows.

"What did you decide on?" he demanded. Elivira chuckled, "Oh, an impatient one, eh? Well, your punishment will surely suit you. After all, you've always been a fighter."

"Just tell me," Atem said crossing his arms. He was getting confused with Elivira saying him being a fighter and he wanted to know what she had decided to give him as his eternal punishment.

"Very well, but don't blame me if you don't like it, you demanded to know after all." Before she continued, Elivira threw an object on a chain toward Villence and before Atem could catch a glimpse of what it was, something was fastened around his neck. Realization dawned on him. _A collar! _Atem thought angrily_. What do they think I am? An animal? _He reached his hands around the collar and tried in vain to get it off. Elivira laughed as if she found Atem struggling to get a collar off very funny and said, "You can't take it off, sweetie. Once it's fastened, it can never be unfastened." Atem stopped his struggles and glared at her. Elivira just shrugged as if saying 'whatever.'

"Well, I might as well tell you, eh?" Elvira said flashing a sweet smile at Atem. "From now on, you will participate in a daily coliseum fight to the death," Atem stiffened as she announced the punishment. He could have sworn he saw her smile and lick her lips in anticipation. As if she was imagining the blood spurting from him as he was slashed at by creatures.

"I have given the guards permission to do anything to control you," Elivira was saying. "After all, you are a rebellious one. Any questions?"

"Yes,"

"Yes?" She seemed surprised.

"Yes," Atem repeated.

"Well?" Elivira demanded. "What is it?"

"Who will be fighting me?"

"Oh, rebels, creatures gone insane, the most brutal creatures who wish to kill you, maybe even volunteers." Elivira rested her head on her left hand and spoke as if that was the most boring thing ever. Atem just gaped at her.

"What?" Elivira demanded with a smirk. "Surprised at who your opponents are?" When Atem didn't speak, Elivira seemed to get bored.

"Guards!" She called. "Take our little fighter to his cell!" _Cell! _Atem then got really mad, but he never got to do anything before Villence threw the end of the chain toward a guard and the guard gave the chain a hard yank. Atem went flying back and winced as the collar dug painfully into his neck, hard enough that it drew blood. He landed in a heap at the guard's feet and the guard quickly picked him up and crushed his small frame against the armour on his chest hard enough to break bones. Atem squeezed his eyes shut as silent tears leaked out. His ribs had been obviously broken, but Atem knew that he would never die. He was a spirit. Spirits can't die. He was doomed to live in pain for eternity.

He barely noticed that the guard had left the room and was walking away until the guard dropped him onto the ground and commanded him to walk. As Atem tried to untangle himself and stand, the guard seemed to get angry.

"Get up!" The guard growled losing his patience. Atem had no time to react before the guard's claw slashed downwards, piercing his flesh with ease making a deep wound on his side. Atem gritted his teeth as his side immediately exploded in pain and blood gushed from the opening. Atem forced himself to stand and walk behind the guard, now wishing that he had more time to tell Yugi how to enter the Shadow Realm.

It was a little while before the guard reached their destination. They had gone down numerous steps to even below where the prisoners were kept. Ahead, there was only one cell and it was in horrendous condition. The bars in front were new, but the floors and walls were caked with dirt and grime from who knows where. In little piles on the ground were _bones_. Filthy and bleached white with time, the bones made Atem forget about his throbbing side and just gape at it.

"WHERE IS THAT LAZY LUMP THAT WAS ASSIGNED TO CLEAN THE CELL?" The guard roared so loud that the bars shook. Atem was just relieved that he didn't need to live in a cell with bones on the ground. Cursing whoever forgot to clean the cell, the guard tied the chain to a metal peg on the wall beside the door and entered the cell, sweeping the bones into a corner, eventually picking them up and carrying them out the cell door. While the guard was cleaning the cell, Atem sat down, relieved that he could rest. Dumping the pile of bones onto the ground, the guard turned around to kick Atem into the cell and lock the door shut, but saw that Atem as sitting with his head bowed.

"Get up, boy!" The guard roared and delivered a glancing blow to Atem's head. The claw cut into Atem's cheek, snapping his head to the side as it tore the flesh wide open. Atem gritted his teeth and wordlessly stood up, giving the guard a venomous glare. He got another slash for that. The slash had sent him flying into the cell and the guard took that opportunity to close the cell door and lock it. The guard then picked up the pile of bones and walked away.

Atem closed his eyes for the impact with the floor, but it never came. Instead, the chain reached its maximum length and Atem was jerked back, crashing into the now closed cell door. The impact shook the bars, sending shocks into Atem's body and jarring his broken ribs. He slowly sat up and crawled over to the closest wall before leaning against it and letting the tears flow free, mixing with the blood trickling down his cheek.

"Yugi," he whispered. "Please hurry."

Atem was awoken when he was slashed across his back. He hadn't even known that he had fallen asleep. Atem jumped to his feet and glared at the creature that had hit him before punching the creature hard. To his surprise, the creature was heavy and he managed to break his knuckles while only knocking the creature's breath out. After recovering, Atem got a good look at the creature and saw that it was Demoli. And he was grinning.

"I get to be the first to mangle you up today, eh?" Demoli licked his lips and grinned again. As Atem opened his mouth to speak, Demoli quickly shoved a clump of leather into Atem's mouth before tying another strip of hard leather around his mouth, sealing Atem's mouth shut. Pulling a length of rope from out of nowhere, Demoli tied Atem's hands behind his back and pinned him to the ground, grinning as Atem struggled under him. Demoli's front claws worked like a chainsaw, quickly shredding Atem's chest, revealing his broken ribs. Grinning wildly and relishing in seeing Atem drown in his silent screams, Demoli gripped one of the unbroken ribs and yanked it clear out, laughing as Atem twisted and writhed in pain, unable to make a sound. Discarding the rib in a corner, Demoli calmly stepped off Atem's mangled chest.

"Well, that's enough for today; you've got a battle coming soon." Demoli looked at the gaping hole in Atem's chest and shook his head. "We can't have you looking like this, it's unpresentable." Demoli walked over to Atem as he glared at him and placed his claws over the gaping wound.

"Heal." Demoli murmured as his claws began to glow. The flesh knitted itself back together in the appearance of healed flesh, but the pain was left in its wake. Working swiftly, Demoli untied Atem's hands and the leather around his mouth. Letting Atem spit out the disgusting clump of leather in his mouth. Untying the chain from the peg, Demoli led Atem through corridors and up some stairs were Demoli handed the chain to a guard and left. Atem raise his head and peered at his surroundings. He was in a small room with the door behind the only exit. As he looked ahead, the wall in front seemed to be able to move, as there was a sliver of light peeking out from the bottom. From here, he could hear a sort of announcer.

"Welcome to the first coliseum battle! Her Majesty requested it made especially for a spirit's eternal punishment! We will have a battle each and every day and participating in them all will be a spirit from the afterlife! The one who locked you all away! The Pharaoh of Egypt!" Excited roars were then heard. The wall in front of Atem started to move upward and he was pushed through the opening into a massive coliseum ring. As he looked around, he could see that monsters filled every seat in the coliseum and glared defiantly at them all. They all booed him and shouted for him to die.

"And now," The announcer continued. "His opponent, a creature insane since he came in contact with light, attacking everything in sight, the dragon Rouge!" The crowd of creatures cheered again. Ahead of him, a section of wall was moving upward and a bright orange dragon was led into the ring bucking and biting. _How am I supposed to fight that thing?_ Atem wondered. His eyes hardened. _Well, I'll go down fighting_.

"LET THE BATTLE BEGIN!" The announcer shouted and the guard let go of the dragon before running into the almost closed wall. The dragon spun around confused when he hit the wall and looked around for something to fight. The dragon caught sight of Atem and snapped his head toward him, narrowing his eyes. Faster then what Atem thought possible, the dragon lunged forward and he narrowly avoided the claws before he was jerked back by something connected to his neck. Atem glanced behind him to see that dragon had gotten the chain hooked onto its claws. Atem knew that soon he would be crushed and had to think fast. _Attacking the body would be no good, the scales are too hard. How do I damage the dragon?_ Atem looked up and met the piercing orange eyes. Atem then knew the answer to that problem. _Attack the eyes! _He thought_. But first I'll need to unhook the chain from the dragon's claws._ Standing back up and running toward the charging dragon, Atem slipped under a foot and grabbed hold of the chain before unhooking it from the claw and running as fast as he could out from under the foot before he got squashed. Running out from the other side, Atem hurriedly wrapped the chain around his arm and was halfway done before he was slammed into by the dragon. The dragon pushed him across the coliseum and into the far wall, were the dragon bit and slashed at him.

Atem was dazed when he collided with the wall and barely registered that the dragon was attacking him. It was until the dragon bit his arm when he was snapped back from his daze. Atem whipped the chain around with his other arm aiming it toward the dragon's eyes. The end of the chain flew through the air and hit the target dead on and Atem's arm was released as the dragon clawed at its eye in pain. Ate took that direction to flip upwards onto the dragon's head and waited for the dragon to take its claws away before taking a deep breath and plunging both hands deep within the dragon's eyes.

Quickly retracting his hands from the dragon's eyes Atem wiped them on his clothes best he could before thinking about how to kill the dragon. _I have only blinded the dragon, so attacking the eyes didn't kill it, so how do I kill it?_ Atem sat there on the head pondering that question and turned to look at the chest. That was when he spotted it. A scale right above the heart was jutting slightly outwards. If he could just reach it, he might be able to yank the heart right out. Moving cautiously across the lumbering dragon's head Atem got to the edge and slid off, carefully positioning himself so that he would slide right over the heart scale. Eyes never leaving the gap in the scale, Atem slid swiftly down the dragon's chest and landed slid right over the scale, just as he aimed to. As fast as his wounded body would allow, Atem twisted around clinging onto the scale as his legs hung in the air. As if wanting to make things harder for Atem, the dragon began shaking, trying to shake Atem off the sensitive scale. Using all his strength, Atem pulled himself up and reached into the narrow gap, hand closing around the dragon's heart. Withdrawing his hand, Atem let go of the scale, falling freely as the heartstrings stretched and finally snapped, the dragon rearing in pain before collapsing onto its side unmoving. Atem looked at the still warm, black heart in his hand and threw it away in disgust.

"Well," The announcer's voice blasted out and made Atem jump. "It seems like the Pharaoh won this fight, join us next week for a new battle and don't forget to bid on when the Pharaoh will lose! Have a good night everybody!" As the announcer finished talking, the shadow creatures stood up and started filing out of the coliseum.

A yank from the chain quickly got Atem moving as he was roughly led and thrown back into his cell. Atem sighed and closed his eyes in exhaustion before falling asleep.

The days were all the same. He was awoken by either Villence or Demoli and when he disobeyed, which was quite often, he was 'mangled' as they called it. The two shadow ghouls had different styles of mangling him up. Demoli liked to restrain Atem with gags and ropes, enjoying the helplessness and the sight of Atem drowning in his own silent screams. Villence, preferred to leave Atem as he was, enjoying the screams and the struggles of pain. Sometimes, Elivira herself would come and watch as Atem was torn open and ripped apart.

Then, Atem would be led to the coliseum for a battle with a shadow creature. Over the months of constant fighting, Atem's body grew into a fighting machine. Although his muscles never really stood out very much, he was strong enough to rip a dragon's scale clean off. Lean, wiry and quick, Atem slid into small places and found a monster's hidden weakness. His record so far was beating a behemoth in ten minutes. After the coliseum battle, Atem would be led back to his cell and if the guards were bored that day, he would be slashed, stomped and beaten for the guards' amusement. Each day, before Atem fell asleep, he would hope with all his might that Yugi would come soon.

Every day was the same, but soon the strain of being constantly slashed open and the growing hopeless feeling that Yugi would never come hurt his heart, but he still battled with fire in his eyes. Elivira still saw the hurt, however, and she decided to speed up the process of breaking Atem's spirit, so Elivira carved magical symbols into the collar. The symbols would show Atem his worst fears and put heavy strain on his mind. After a while of this treatment, Atem's spirit shattered. His eyes dulled and he stopped hoping that Yugi would come. Atem was too injured to obey every command immediately and sometimes he was too exhausted to get up, so he still received many wounds a day, but his eyes no longer held a fire that spoke of a strong spirit. Some days he still wondered if Yugi would come, but that thought was pushed to the back of his mind as he adapted to his new life.

And so years passed like that, and Atem sensed something prodding the very fabric of the Shadow Realm, as if searching for a way in. No one else noticed, so Atem ignored it. It was until one night, three years exactly from the time the dream had gotten through, something pierced the outer fabric of the Shadow Realm. A smile graced the lips of one who had not smiled for a long time. With a voice hoarse from not using it for a long time, Atem smiled and whispered one word that gave him hope that he would be saved from his current life, here in the Shadow Realm.

"Yugi,"

* * *

><p>My longest chapter yet!<p>

Tell me if something needs to be improved!

Praise is welcome too!

They give me motivation.

So, R & R

FW593


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